"Over the past three and a half years, I have pursued
alegal
caseagainst Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination
and retaliation. Seeking justice in the courts has been painful
for me personally and professionally, and for my family. I am now
moving on, paying Kleiner Perkins’ legal costs and dropping my
appeal. My experience shows how difficult it is to address
discrimination through the court system," she wrote.

Paolost
all counts of her caseagainst the venture capital firm
on March 27, 2015, when a jury found that her gender was not the
motivating reason for her not being promoted to a general or
senior partner, or for her termination at the firm. In June, Pao
was ordered to
pay $275,966.63 in court costs to her former employer Kleiner
Perkins Caufield & Byers.

In Pao's note, the former Reddit interim CEO said she
discovered that the courts are not equipped to deal with gender
discrimination trials. For one, discrimination must be
intentional and has to be filed within one year under California
law, Pao wrote, compared to property damage claims which can be
filed up to three years later.

Pao also singled out Kleiner Perkins' resources, both
financial and legal. She was originally ordered to pay close to
$1 million in Kleiner's legal costs associated with the trial,
but that number
was reduced in June.

"The disparity in legal, PR and financial resources
is also tremendous — and the primary reason for my decision to
now focus my efforts outside court," Pao said.

Kleiner's legal arsenal and deep pockets impacted many parts of
the trial, Pao also wrote. She cited examples of Kleiner spending
five times as more on expert witnesses, hiring multiple PR people
to argue their case to the press and pursuing "expensive
procedural actions" that delayed the case by more than a
year.

Although the case ended in March, the two parties were still in a
back-and-forth over the costs associated with the case.

KPCB filed in April to recover $973,000 in court fees, but said
it would waive its legal costs if Pao gave up her right to
appeal. In May, Pao filed a motion to strike the firm's
costs because she found them "grossly excessive and
unreasonable." But Pao also offered, according to KPCB, to waive
her rights to appeal in exchange for
$2.7 million to cover her own costs.

As recently as August 31, Pao paid more than $4,600 to the San
Francisco courts in order to prepare for an appeal. Pao's letter
that she's dropping the appeal came 10 days later
via the essay on Re/Code. No additional court records have
been filed.

"We are glad to put this trial behind us. There is no question
diversity in the workplace is an important issue.
KPCB remains committed to supporting women and minorities
in venture capital and technology both inside our firm and
within our industry," said a spokeswoman for the venture capital
firm.